This application claims priority to French Patent Application No. 07 07881 filed on Nov. 9, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
This invention relates to the transport of a civil engineering structure in an aquatic medium. Other aspects of the invention will relate to launching and/or installation of the civil engineering structure in an aquatic medium.
For reasons of simplicity it is common practice not to transport finished civil engineering structures by sea, but separate components which will then be assembled at sea.
By way of example, the construction of an offshore wind generator, that is to say one which is intended to be located in the open sea, conventionally takes place in the following way—the base and possibly the metal drum of the wind generator are constructed onshore, they are transported to sea holding them by means of a crane located on a barge, and then once at sea the hub and the blades forming the rotor of the wind generator are positioned on the base and/or metal drum.
However the work required at sea to assemble the various components of the civil engineering structure is relatively long, complex and costly. Its level of safety is also sometimes less than that of work carried out onshore.
Even if the transport of a finished civil engineering structure by sea were to be envisaged, for example by placing it entirely on a boat or on a barge, complex work at sea would still be necessary to install the civil engineering structure in its permanent position.
By way of example, if a wind generator were to be transported lying on a barge, its installation at sea would require it to be raised by means of a crane and erected so that it could be placed vertically in its permanent position.
One object of this invention is to overcome these disadvantages.